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Last year at this time, ARHtistic License had almost 600 subscribers. As of this writing, readership has grown to 807. (I was hoping for 1,000—serves me right to set a goal over which I have absolutely no control.) If you occasionally read ARHtistic License and like what you see, please sign up to subscribe in the sidebar on the right. You will get email notifications whenever a new post drops, or, if you are also a WordPress blogger, ARHtistic License will show up in your Reader feed.

My Top Ten Most-Read Posts of 2019:

NaPoWriMo 2019 #13I participated in National Poetry Writing Month in April. This poem, What If, was featured on the official website.

Phoenix Folk Dance FestivalPhotographs and videos of the annual festival my folk dance group puts on. We get participants from all over the country (and even some from Canada).

Interestingly, all of the above posts had more views than my second most-viewed post of 2019. Does that mean I’m not as good a writer as I used to be, or did those posts just have better SEO (something I rarely consider)?

Another way to gauge a post’s popularity is the number of “likes” it garners. Here are My Top Ten Most Liked Posts of 2019:

The saddest thing about this list is that these posts only received 19-32 likes. NaPoWriMo #13 had 260 views, but only 24 likes. I did the math—it’s only 9.23%. What does that mean? Did 90.77% of my readers hate it? Should I just give up blogging? It would free up a lot of my time if I did . . . I know this is a serious character flaw on my part, but I am so jealous of bloggers who get 100 likes on every post.

I rewrote The God of Paradox and gave it to my pastor to read. She identified two aspects she thought needed further study, and I’m rewriting again, almost halfway through.

The Unicornologist is at a standstill. I don’t know how to fix the manuscript the way it is. I’ve decided I need to start from the beginning and write it all over again, since I know the story from beginning to end.

I’m still submitting my poetry chapbook to every contest. As soon as I lose one, I do some tweaking and enter another. I was going to stop entering contests, but then I read one of the winning chapbooks and realized mine is comparable in quality.

I’m writing poems and drawing zentangles. I also joined a photography group at my church so I can improve my picture-taking.

I started a short story that is a retelling of The Nutcracker, but I’m stuck. I know where I want to go, but not sure how to get there from where I am.

My Goals for 2020:

I’ve said it for years, but I want to finish The God of Paradox and The Unicornologist and submit them.

I also want to find a home for my poetry chapbook.

I want to finish my other projects, like my children’s poetry book and the Nutcracker

I’ve done very little practicing of piano, guitar, and recorder. Greg and I have had health issues, and we’re on the “medical merry-go-round” with constant doctor appointments, test, blood draws, surgeries, etc. I hope we’ll get off the carousel soon so we can pick up some of the activities that have fallen by the wayside.

I need to decide whether to continue blogging, cut down on it, or give it up entirely.

Now it’s your turn:

How have you done with your creative endeavors this year? What are your creative goals for 2020? Share in the comments below. If you’ve posted about it on your blog, feel free to share the link.

Have you read all of my most popular posts this year? No? Make my day and choose, say, three of the ones listed above and let me know what you think.

If you read a post on any blog, not just mine, that you find well worth your while, please “like” it if you’re given the option. Or leave a brief comment. It gives us bloggers such a lift. Feel free to click the “like” button below, and share the article on all your social media. Build some good blogging karma for yourself. Or if you don’t blog yourself, wouldn’t it be a shame if your favorite bloggers quit and took up skydiving instead?

If you like this post, please spread the joy! Share on all your social media.

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I’ve discovered a new (to me) photography challenge at the Mind Over Memory blog. My offerings this week were taken in the Phoenix Art Museum in 2017:

Nude Man by Viola Frey, glazed ceramic

Facade from a house in Hue, Vietnam

Upside Down, Inside Out by Anish Kapoor, sculpture made of resin and paint

Column Interminable by Betsabeé Romero: 17 “tires” inscribed with symbols from pre-conquest North, South, and Central America, the Aztecs, the Paracas people of Peru, and the ancient Hohokam people who lived in what is now Arizona. Romero’s themes are migration and borders.

Pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon that causes people to see patterns in a random stimulus. This condition can lead people to assign human characteristics to objects. Here’s what an pareidolic artist does when he sees faces in inanimate objects.